A woman who said she fatally shot another motorist only when he attacked her after a traffic accident last year has been indicted on a murder charge.

Authorities didn't charge 23-year-old Crystal Scott immediately after the shooting death last year of Jonathan Ables, but Harris County grand jurors apparently concluded there were still enough unanswered questions for the case to go to trial.

Scott told authorities she shot Ables on Sept. 17 after both drivers had pulled their vehicles into a Shell station on FM 1960 near Perry.

Scott said the 22-year-old Ables began screaming profanities at her, then struck the car and tried to open her door. Scott said she was in fear for her life when she pulled the trigger, fatally striking Ables.

"What was she supposed to do? Did she have a right to defend herself?" her attorney, Letitia Quinones, asked on Tuesday, saying she was "deeply saddened" that a grand jury would indict Scott.

Kyle Aucoin said no evidence exists that his son touched Scott's car after the minor traffic accident.

"Jonathan had his hands up. He was backing away, but she wouldn't let it go," Aucoin said after the indictment against Scott was returned.

"She was determined that she was going to kill him," Aucoin said.

Scott, who was uninjured in the incident, was questioned at the scene by Harris County sheriff's deputies but later was released without charges.

The shooting was then referred to a grand jury.

At the time, sheriff's deputies said Scott's account of what happened seemed to match that of other witnesses.

"Her life will never be the same," Quinones said. "She's been in counseling since this happened."

Son's image defended

Aucoin said the image of his son as some kind of road-rage predator was completely off the mark.

"My son was raised with manners. He was raised to respect women," Aucoin declared. "That's how he was taught: You're always cordial to women."

After Scott's indictment, Harris County prosecutors reached out to her attorney about the next step in the judicial process.

"She will be given the opportunity to turn herself in," said Sara Kinney, a spokeswoman with the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Quinones did not offer an exact date when Scott would surrender to authorities, but said it would happen after her client's affairs are put in order.